Open Mike: Let My People Speak
Canadian baseball GOAT Joey Votto of the Cincinnati Reds turns to Atlanta’s Ossie Albies and asks, ”What do you think about me getting a diamond tooth?”
Albies smiles and says, “Go for it.”
This silly exchange might have just been another throwaway jock remark, except it took place live during the fourth inning of the Cincinnati/ Atlanta home opener last week. Votto was playing first base and Albies has just arrived there with a single. The goofy chit chat was part of ESPN miking Votto live for a half inning.
The technique has never been done during a regular season MLB game. Judging from public reaction, people want to see much more of their favourite sports stars in non-formal interviews. *(Although they could pass on Votto adjusting his protective cup every 30 seconds.)
Votto is that rare athlete who can pull off a conversation in the heat of a close game. The Toronto native is a witty, loquacious guy, and it showed as he shot the breeze in English and Spanish with the ESPN crew (Karl Ravech, David Cone, and Eduardo Pérez) about his “mid-life crisis”, having to be vigilant because his starting pitcher Tyler Mahle doesn’t have a great move to first, his training with a golf pro and assorted other chit-chat.
Not every star is as camera-ready as Votto nor is every sport adaptable to this intimate multi-tasking. But it was hard not to feel that Votto and the ESPN crew were pulling back the shroud on something new. Like movies going from silent to talkies, in-game sports have been almost mute for decades.
Live audio has always been the final frontier of sports broadcasting. Lip reading is the best we could hope for. And here it was; the Votto conversation was akin to hearing The Jazz Singer in 1927. Hard not to imagine the implications— especially for a sport like baseball struggling for relevance with Millenials.
You also got a limited taste of what golf— another sport with a young-demo problem— might be like with wild sound at The Masters this weekend. There were more than the usual “shits” and “fucks” sneaking in to accompany wayward shots. No one tried to apologize for the blue language. But there were also moments where fans were taken inside the action. Scotty Scheffler’s wayward ball-in-the-shrub on No. 18 Saturday showed his caddy talking him out of a risky shot from the branches.
Billy Horschel supplied plenty of “No, it can’t be short” laments as his ball rolled off the green after landing on the green. Jon Rahm was caught pleading with the gods. While Scheffler’s caddy advised his man to hit a “nipper… pretty basic for you”. What a nipper is was not explained by Jim Nantz.
It was just a thimble-ful of audio but better than the incessant bird-chirping audio bed that plays beneath everything at Augusta National. Or the banal blandishments offered up by the broadcasters on behalf of Augusta National.
Some sports are less adaptable to the in-play audio, of course. Perhaps broadcasters could mike a chatterbox wide receiver in the NFL or a talkative goalie in the NHL. At first it right meet with resistance from the traditionalists, but when athletes see the branding opportunities from being uncensored by the network you could see a very rapid acceptance.
And let’s face it. Fans want to hear the inside action from stars who are normally sealed hermetically by cautions management and ownership. And as we said last September, less from cliché ridden analysts and play-buy-play.
“The public is craving the inside audio scoop, yet these events are carried as if it were still the 1990 Masters. Ditto for almost all team sports outside of the CFL and curling. (Rugby allows audio from referee’s video decisions.) It’s like watching a silent movie.
The success of Netflix’s F1 documentary series Drive To Survive (now showing its fourth year) is a perfect example of the public’s demand for the inner sanctum of sport. Drive To Survive has plenty of the Nuke LaLoosh blarney from athletes and owners. But it also has enough free-wheeling about the bitchiness between drivers, the headaches of team managers and some of the greatest video from the pits to intrigue even the least serious fans.”
It can also be a revenue source. As we wrote August 2018: “As we’ve suggested for many years now, fans would probably be amenable to paying for a special channel with unlimited audio. Pay a special fee on top of your NHL Centre Ice or NFL Red Zone subscription and get full live audio from games.
The effect might be like what happened when Hollywood converted from silent to talkies. Instead of scandal they’d have a new generation of viewers interested in their product. You can just see the promotion: “Fans, you’ve have seen their favourite sports stars for years. Now hear them live for the first time.”
Joey Votto just gave them their best advertisement.
Bruce Dowbiggin @dowbboy is the editor of Not The Public Broadcaster (http://www.notthepublicbroadcaster.com). The best-selling author was nominated for the BBN Business Book award of 2020 for Personal Account with Tony Comper. A two-time winner of the Gemini Award as Canada's top television sports broadcaster, he’s also a regular contributor to Sirius XM Canada Talks Ch. 167. His new book with his son Evan Inexact Science: The Six Most Compelling Draft Years In NHL History is now available on http://brucedowbigginbooks.ca/book-personalaccount.aspx